A key ingredient in rocket fuel can be found in a wide range of foods we eat, especially baby food, fast food and fresh fruits and vegetables, according to an explosive new investigation by Consumer Reports.
Perchlorate, a chemical used in the production of rocket fuel and fireworks, has been linked to thyroid problems in adults and brain damage in fetuses and newborns.
Consumer Reports found the chemical in about 67% of nearly 200 samples of supermarket and fast food items it tested.
“We found the highest levels of perchlorate in some fast food and produce products, but disturbingly, the category with the highest average level of perchlorate was baby and children’s foods,” the consumer advocate publication wrote in its report of on Wednesday. “Some of the baby and children’s foods we tested that had the highest levels of perchlorate could quickly add up to a worrisome amount.”
Levels ranged from just over 2 to 79 parts per billion — not enough to be immediately dangerous, but they can become dangerous.
Foods in plastic containers had the highest levels (around 54 ppb on average) while baby food reached 19.4 ppb, followed by fruits and vegetables, fast food, baked goods, dairy, meat, seafood and beverages.
Consumer Reports said these tests did not reveal why some foods had higher levels of perchlorate, but researchers suggest that plastic packaging may be to blame. Meanwhile, fresh produce can become contaminated with perchlorate if irrigated with contaminated water.
Perchlorate has long been known to be a problem.
In 2005, the Environmental Protection Agency set a perchlorate daily exposure limit of 0.7 micrograms per kilogram of body weight — a dose that Consumer Reports says is excessive.
The European Food Safety Authority’s daily allowance is just 0.3 micrograms per kilogram of body weight.
“Some of the baby and toddler foods we tested that had the highest levels of perchlorate could quickly add up to a worrisome amount,” Consumer Reports noted. “For a child between 1 and 2 years of age, one serving of the boxed mac and cheese we tested would reach nearly 50% of the EFSA limit, and servings of baby rice cereal, multigrain cereal and yogurt organic that we tested will capture about a quarter of that limit.”
Citing the “best available peer-reviewed science,” the EPA announced in 2020 that it would not regulate perchlorate. A federal appeals court ruled last year that it should.
To comply, the agency said it would issue a proposal to regulate perchlorate in drinking water by Nov. 21, 2025, and finalize a system by May 21, 2027.
Consumer Reports hopes these restrictions will spur cleanup.
In the meantime, the organization recommends getting enough iodine.
Perchlorate interferes with the thyroid gland’s uptake of iodine, an essential mineral for hormone production. In adults, exposure to high levels of perchlorate may affect metabolic rate and/or induce hypothyroidism.
Concerns about the effects of perchlorate are in children and pregnant women, as thyroid hormones are essential for cognitive development and any disruption can have lifelong consequences.
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